Review Summary

Fitfully funny with a low joke-to-minute ratio, “Extract” plays like two irreconcilable and unfinished sketches, neither particularly fertile comedic terrain. The first revolves around Joel (Jason Bateman) and his beef that his wife has sexually closed for business by the time he comes home from work, a weak bit that Mike Judge tries to exploit with repeated close-ups of Suzie cinching her sweat pants. At the urging of his friend Dean (Ben Affleck, delivering a real performance), Joel hires a part-time pool cleaner and full-time moron, Brad (Dustin Milligan), to service her. The second sketch involves the attempts of a vamping con artist, Cindy (Mila Kunis), to scam Joel by cozying up to a dim factory worker, Step (Clifton Collins Jr.), who’s suffered an-on-the-job injury. What’s most striking about “Extract,” beyond the scarcity of jokes and absence of actual filmmaking, is its deep well of sourness, which at times borders on misanthropy.
— Manohla Dargis